The present invention relates to an apparatus for laterally aligning accumulating flexible, flat objects, such as printed products, while the objects are being transported on a conveyor.
An apparatus of this type is known, for example, from EP 0 223 941 A. For laterally aligning printed products which are situated on a conveyor which is configured as a belt conveyor, said apparatus has guide rails in the form of endless toothed belts which are arranged on both sides of the conveyor and are moved by motor-driven pulley wheels in the same movement direction and at approximately the same conveying speed as the printed products.
A further apparatus for laterally aligning printed products which accumulate in an overlapping formation according to EP 0 567 807 A has a row of aligning columns as aligning unit. Said aligning columns have a round outline and are driven in such a way that their surface which is oriented toward the overlapping formation moves at conveying speed in the conveying direction F. In order to prevent printed products which are conveyed, for example, between two aligning columns with one corner against a spacing being carried between the aligning columns through and below the transport belt, in which case they could endanger the overlapped stream and the latter could be damaged, stop plates are provided between the aligning columns.
Apparatuses of this type function satisfactorily if the accumulating printed products have a certain thickness and therefore a sufficient inherent stability. However, there can be problems if, for example, thin printed products, that is to say having few sheets, predominantly in the tabloid format, accumulate with a great ejection rate from a rotary printing press, the inherent stability of said printed sheets being insufficient for the known lateral aligning.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus of the generic type, by means of which flexible, flat objects having varying inherent stability can be aligned laterally.